Feb. 11-15

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Annoucements

  • Valentine's Day is this Thursday. All week, we will be working on an essay about love. Learn more about this special day at history.com
  • All students have had a chance to visit the new media center to get a book for their outside reading. Don't forget to devote some time to your book!
Open House Mon. night starting at 6 a.m. I will be in the media center that night to visit with parents. Jennifer Worrell with the Greensboro Public Library will be giving a short presentation on teenagers and online communities. Come by and learn about myspace, blogs, wikis and other online communities that may be a part of your teen's life.

Mon. and Tues.
1. There will be HW this week reviewing spelling and grammar. All are due on Friday.
  • Spelling 10 words a day from our most often misspelled words. Cumulative quiz this Friday.
  • Grammar focus on compound/complex sentences.
  • Sentence types
  • Writing longer sentences


2. We will focus on the definition essay this week. We are learning about
  • methods of development for the defintion essay,
  • prewriting techniques (such as bubble cluster, spider diagrams, outlining, line clustering, and columns),
  • developing the introduction,
  • the difference between commentary and concrete detail,
  • paragraph development and length, and
  • and what makes for a strong conclusion.

Wed. and Thurs.
We will write a rough draft on the abstract term love during class. Rough draft due on Friday in class for revision.
Assignment Name:
 Love Definition Essay
Overview:
 external image heart.gifIt's the week of love! external image heart.gif
Valentine's Day falls on Thursday. For this assignment, you will create a four-paragraph extended definition essay outling your personal defintion of the abstract term love. The purpose of this essay is to familiarize you with the definition essay format as well as to provide you with the experience of writing a short extended defintion essay.
Author and Audience:
 As a student in English 10 you have been asked to write a definition essay on the abstract term love. You are writing a basic extended definition essay for your teacher as an extention of a classwork assignment.
Form:
 You should begin writing your prompt by:
  1. Creating a bubble chart (or other graphic organizer if you choose) diagramming different ideas, movies, songs, and other specific information and details that come to mind when thinking of the term love.
  2. You are to use a rhetorical question in your introduction paragraph. (Lesson G3)
  3. You are to devise a thesis statement based on the term. You are to use the Term+Class+Characteristic formula learned during class.
  4. You are to devise an introduction, 2 body and conclusion using the formula provided in class. Introduction=60+ words, body paragraphs=100+ words each, conclusion=60+ words.
  5. Be sure to include commentary for your concrete details.
Focus Skills:
 Content: Writes a clear and focused paper
Organization: Uses clear thesis statement
Style: Uses variety of sentence lengths
Style: Uses specific, interesting, precise words
Challenge: Uses rhetorical questions effectively
Procedure:
 You are to begin your writing process first by prewriting using your bubble chart diagram.

After generating ideas, you are to create a thesis statement based on your ideas using the Term+Class+Characteristic Formula learned during class.

I ask that you then formulate your rough draft.

Your job is to show that you have mastered the focus skills.

You will do a self-assessement and reflect on your scoring rubric.

Please remember that your assessment should be a true reflection of your work. We will cover the self-assessement process in class.
Rough Draft Due:
 2/15/2008
Final Draft Due:
 2/19/2008
Friday
Quiz on cumulative spelling words.
Revise essay on love using rubric.
Assignment 3.00: Love Definition Essay
Scoring Rubric
Name
 Class
 Writing Type



Skill Levels:
 0 = provides no evidence of skill
1 = demonstrates minimal understanding of skill
2 = uses skill correctly to some extent
3 = correctly, competently achieves skill
4 = uses skill consistently and/or can manipulate skill for rhetorical effect
5 = meets level 4 criteria and is able to justify and explain rhetorical choices
A. Essay meets criteria set forth on assignment sheet
Self-assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
 Teacher's assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reflection:


B3. Content: Writes a clear and focused paper
Self-assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
 Teacher's assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reflection:


C9. Organization: Uses clear thesis statement
Self-assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
 Teacher's assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reflection:


D1. Style: Uses variety of sentence lengths
Self-assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
 Teacher's assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reflection:


D3. Style: Uses specific, interesting, precise words
Self-assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
 Teacher's assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reflection:


G3. Challenge: Uses rhetorical questions effectively
Self-assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
 Teacher's assessment: 0 1 2 3 4 5
Reflection:


Total score for self-assessment:
 Total score for teacher's assessment:

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